If you followed my last blog post, Cookie Law… according to Papertank, you’ll know that a new European-wide privacy law is now in force in the UK. The law requires that websites ask for permission from users to allow the use and storage of cookies – small text files which allow a website to remember data between pages and visits.

As a web consumer, a law is needed to protect my privacy and prevent advertisers from gaining information about my web visits and using targeted marketing information without my permission. As a web developer, the law has been badly implemented, both in terms of the legal definitions and guidelines from the government (whose own websites do not yet fully comply), and in terms of the “sledgehammer to crack a nut” approach of enforcing a strict policy on all websites and genuine uses of cookies.

Nevertheless, the law is the law, and Papertank have designed and implemented what we think is an appropriate solution.

jQuery Accept Cookies Plugin

We have uploaded our toggle cookies solution to GitHub and released it as open-source, meaning other developers and website owners are free to use the code and customise to their needs.

If you do use the plugin on your own website, or if you have any feedback, we’d love to hear. Comment below or e-mail us!

Toggle rather than button

We decided to take the ‘On/Off’ toggle approach – rather than a ‘Click here to accept’ button – after we discovered most users preferred not to click an accept button. The toggle approach is also colour coded, allowing the user to see the status of cookies on the website immediately.